Violence and threats: Exceptional runners accuses his own father

Father against son and daughter in court, the mother and other siblings on the witness stand: There is hardly a more unpleasant situation for parents and children than those who are just going through the Norwegian family. The world-class runner Jakob Inbrigtsen (24 years) and a younger sister (19) of him accuse her father Gjert (59) of becoming violent in childhood and adolescence.

After the publicly held family custody, a judgment is now expected in the case on Monday (June 16). Does Gjert have to go to prison afterwards? In any case, according to Norwegian jurisprudence, he threatens several years in prison: the public prosecutor has requested two and a half years in prison, but the defense was acquitted.

The case in the north has hit high waves for weeks. The actors could hardly be prominent for Norwegian standards: the family Inflets is one of the best known of all of Norway, the currently injured Jakob Ingebrigtsen himself as the Olympic champion of Tokyo (1,500 m) and Paris (5,000 m) as well as multiple world champions and world recorders among the most famous athletes in the country. Also with the Luxembourg Charel Grethen He dueled several times.

A question of opinion caused a sensation that the running star published in autumn 2023 together with his brothers Filip and Henrik in the newspaper « Verdens Gang ». In it, the running brothers reported on a childhood that was characterized by physical violence and threats to their father and long -time coach.

As a result, investigations against Gjert were initiated due to possible abuse, which initially led to an indictment for his approach against his daughter. At the end of 2024, this indictment was also extended to his behavior towards Jakob. This spring finally followed the week-long legal process, in which one family member after the other before the district court of Sör-Rogaland in Sandnes in Sandnes in Sandn’s position. According to Jakob Intbrigtsen, according to his own statements, it was about telling the history of the siblings, but also about a much greater topic: the protection of children from family violence.

Father and mother against five children

« My siblings and I will continue in life, regardless of the outcome of the process. Many children cannot do that, » wrote the 24-year-old at the end of the trial in a further contribution in « Verdens Gang », which he also read in court. « They live their lives in fear. Do not forget if the cameras ended in the district court in Sandnes. » He concluded his plea for more attention for these children with the words: « Not all of them can run away from their problems, as I did. »

The seven -time family man Gjert Inbrigtsen has always rejected the allegations before and during the procedure. In court, he testified that he only had the best intentions. « I never exercised violence against my children, » he said in 2023. He was anything but perfect as a father and husband, but never violent.

The majority of his children are different. In addition to Jakob and his younger sister, three more of the siblings said they grew up in a regime of fear. Her mother Tone, on the other hand, is said to have jumped on the side of the five children who blamed him with seven children, but no violence, neither physically nor mentally, according to a lawyer, she said that her mother Tone has been. She just wanted to comment behind closed doors and to exclude the media.

Incidentally, the coach of the running brothers has not been father Gjert since 2022. Instead, he has been looking after the medium -distance runner Narve Gilje Northas for a long time. In the course of the course, the 59-year-old was last again publicly found in a athletics stadium again for the first time in a competition in Bergen. He chatted on various topics for minutes over Norwegian reporters – but left the crowd promptly and without a word when he was asked about the pronouncement of the judgment on June 16.